How Highly Sensitive People Can Prevent Burnout

If you feel stretched beyond your limit you are not alone. The crushing workloads and stress of so many highly sensitive people are a prescription for burnout.

You would think that avoiding burnout would simply be a matter of not crossing a threshold of fatigue.

Burnout is not that simple.

Many people in our fast-paced world burn out from the daily demands even if they are not highly sensitive.

For highly sensitive people the problem of burnout is amplified by their naturally higher stress levels caused. The overstimulation we experience is caused by a fast paced, noisy and sensory intense world.

Sources Of Burnout For Highly Sensitive People

Burnout can come from many sources for highly sensitive people:

work because we are increasingly expected to be as highly productive and fast-paced as our economic system demands

creative burnout since HSPs tend to be highly creative. Creativity does not follow a rigid schedule. However, the expectation is that it will. Creativity can create pressure all by itself, but with time pressures added, creative burnout can be a result.

high empathy can result in serious burnout problems. Our empathy may cause us to dig deep and be extremely conscientious which is an added demand that we place on ourselves. It may not be rewarded, but is something we do to be at peace with ourselves.

too much sensory stimulation from all forms of noise, light, chemicals, and electronics to name a few can add also to our burnout potential.

toxic relationships, at home and at work are contributing factors as well.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is not just an emotional problem. Merriam-Webster defines burnout as “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration.”

These factors sound simple and probably reflect the reality of non=HSPs. However that does not mean that they do not apply equally to highly sensitive people.

In the case of HSPs, both can be serious factors because our need for rest is high and frequent and because many forms of work do not suit us, in particular all forms of drudgery.

But there are additional factors for highly sensitive people:

the rest we need from being around people too much

the rest we need from all forms of excessive stimulation:

light

sound

fabric and touch

entertainment

crowds

high pressure situations

competitive situations

toxic social environments

Work burnout can also occur

when the work we are doing doesn’t suit our skills or interests.

when we know we are not interested in a particular job or task and force ourselves to do it too often

when our work environment is fear-based and highly political

when we have too many emergencies, both at work and at home

when we are sick or a family member is sick causing us to burn the candle at both ends.

Work is a particularly challenging subject for highly sensitive people since we have the need for work that is meaningful, self-paced and our “calling.”

All these factors – the presence of some or absence of others create stress for highly sensitive people. Since our systems are so sensitive, poor health habits will only make all of the potential burnout factors worse.

When we are well we can withstand some turbulence in our lives. When rough spots last too long they start to debilitate us. Life is not meant to be a long emergency.

Assessing Burnout Potential In Your Life

To assess burnout potential in your life, evaluate each aspect of your life below on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being low in stress and burnout potential and 10 being extreme burnout potential.

consider your physical condition:

if you are strong and have physical reserves, you may be an HSP who has the ability to withstand long-term stressful situations.

if you are an HSP with lower resilience, you need to be careful about how much stress you tolerate and make adjustments to prevent physical burnout.

you become fatigued easily

you are sick or get sick easily

consider your work situation.

are you valued?

are you doing work you love r is a lot of it drudgery?

do you have the skills you need to succeed in your field?

do you work with people who are good for you including taking your sensitivity into account?

is the organization well managed so that you are not affected by constant emergencies?

do you have to overwork too much?

are you compensated well? Are your benefits good?

consider your relationships.

start with your family. Is it a warm, loving and supportive family? Are you accepted or are you generally frustrated by the disregard and unhappiness in your family?

do you have close supportive friends who accept and understand your sensitivity?

do you have a community you are a part of that is also supportive of your HSP trait?

are you happy with your social life?

are your work relationships good and productive?

consider the time of year.

are there certain times when you are more overloaded than others and at risk of burnout?

are there times when the people around you are overloaded and your responsibilities increase as a result?

consider the overall stress conditions in your life?

do you have burnout in some or two area spilling over into others and are you able to take time to heal?

do you see the potential for burnout to develop in any area in the future?

when you look at your burnout assessment how does it look to you? piece of cake? manageable? serious burnout potential?

There are no right answers and no score to determine your burnout potential. Your assessment is a map of your current situation so that you can easily get a high level view of your current situation.

With your assessment in hand, it might be useful to consider whether your burnout challenges are people challenges, time management challenges, or a need to develop skills. Sometimes we lack a skill set that could make our life easier, save time and reduce stress.

Steps To Prevent Burnout

Anyone can suffer from burnout. Highly sensitive people are likely to be more quickly affected than others by a high demand culture. But there are some steps you can take to insulate from the worst effects of burnout.

Here are 9 things you can do to prevent your sensitivity from turning into full blown burnout:

strengthen your body first. Improve your energy by getting a great night’s sleep, exercising, keeping hydrated and eating well. Detox your body since toxins can build up causing debility over time. Take herbs to support your nervous system and defuse the impact of stress on your body.

learn to meditate to relieve stress and help you with emotional balance. A long term meditation practice can help you detach from toxic people and helps restore your nervous system.

make a list of all the areas of your health that you need to work on and set priorities for them.

research on the internet about areas of your life that need significant improvement. Do not be afraid to tackle large issues like career choices and family problems.

do not be afraid to cut back on commitments that are too draining. Your other commitments will benefit from your improved attention. You are not responsible for others expectations.

for the tasks you hate, you have several options: drop them if they are really unimportant, break them up into small bite size work units so that you only have to so it for a short time, delegate them, or trade your undesired task with someone else’s undesired task. Avoid drudgery. It is notoriously draining for HSPs.

determine what is most important to you so that you increase your time spent on your high value activities and therefore increase your satisfaction. It will cushion you from less pleasant experiences.

treat burnout as a life-time concern that you can eliminate but taking good care of your life. It is a serious challenge for HSPs but one worth taking on.

Everyone’s life matters and everyone deserves to enjoy their life.

HSPs need to learn to say no. You do not have to carry the world on your shoulders.

When you are flexible, mindful about commitments and your highly sensitive nature and take excellent care of yourself you are doing what is necessary to beat burnout.

Preventing burnout is one of the most important things a highly sensitive person can do.

Comments

This is an important issue for HSPs. One comment though on this point:

“if you are strong and have physical reserves, you may be an HSP who has the ability to withstand long-term stressful situations.”

I’d cross that one off the list, for anyone. It’s very hard to determine our own level of stamina. Especially when we are stressed (and basically running on -initially- strength enhancing adrenalin) we tend to hugely overestimate our stamina and underestimate our exhaustion. Basically, if your work is stressing you out, you will break down. It’s just a matter of time. Yet, you could be doing work that is stressful to many people but not stressful to you. That just means you’re doing work that suits you.

You are right, when we are operating on adrenalin, it is very difficult to determine our ability to withstand stress, and there is no question we will break down eventually. When I wrote it the important word was if. Some people if they work on their strength and physical health will be able to do better than others in a stressful situation,

I acknowledge, through, that it is exceptionally difficult for HSPs to develop their strength to withstand highly stressful situations for long. It is also worth asking whether or not it is worth it. My feeling is that it is not. We deserve better.

Really timely for me, thanks so much for posting. I am currently in the midst of burnout. My friends don’t understand, they think I’m depressed. Any further tips for coping/recovering would be greatly appreciated.

Burnout is very hard because we live in a world where if you are not UP! UP! UP! all the time, you are considered “wrong” in some way. One of the downsides of technology is that rejuvenation, a natural process in nature, is considered passe. Therefore, you may not get the support you need from the people around you. I have had that experience and seems to me that the inner slave driver rules in our culture.

I think that one way to help yourself is to treat it as a gift and revel in the need to rest. (This sounds so good – I want to take my own advice!) To your friends/family tell them that you have overworked and need rest. I find that nature helps me the most. Little treats like flowers in the house help also. Restful pampering. Your body is giving you a wakeup call and wants attention, so the more you can give it what it needs the better your recovery.

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About HSP Health

HSP Health promotes the health and self development of highly sensitive people. It focuses on the many challenges of being an HSP including the causes and characteristics of high sensitivity, and the identity challenges of being different.